After being cleared on voter fraud charges, Atlantic City Councilman Marty Small considers his future - including possibly suing the state

Marty Small with his wife, La'Quetta, son Marty jr., 1, and daughter, Jada, 3. (The Press of Atlantic City / Ben Fogletto)

Ben Fogletto

ATLANTIC CITY — Marty Small had it all planned out.

Following his loss to Mayor Lorenzo Langford in the 2009
Democratic primary for mayor, Small decided it was time to re-tool
his life: as a person, as an employee of the Atlantic City School
District and as a 2nd Ward councilman.

He mapped out a schedule to improve his life personally,
professionally and politically, with Sept. 1, 2009, being the date
to start his transformation as a “more visible” city councilman.
Two days later, he was indicted — again.

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“It was like, here we go again,” Small said from his
Presbyterian Avenue home Tuesday, a day after being acquitted on 10
counts of voter-fraud-related charges connected to his mayoral
campaign. He faced similar charges related to handling ballots in
the 2005 Democratic mayoral primary between Langford and Bob Levy,
but was acquitted after jurors deliberated for half an hour.

This time Small was threatened with a maximum of 68 years in
prison and, at the least, the threat of losing his ability to serve
as an elected official or a public employee.

Now, after beating the state on voter fraud charges again, Small
is back to planning his future. But with some crucial decisions
ahead of him, he’s thinking far differently than he was before the
indictment.

To start, his career in politics could be coming to an end.

Small is up for re-election this year, along with five other
council members, and is still considering whether he wants to run
another campaign considering the past scrutiny from the state.

“To be honest, that decision is still up in the air,” he said.
“It’s something we have to decide as a family because, I mean,
we’ve been through a lot these last five years.

“I’m torn,” he added with his two children sitting on his lap.
“The money that I spent on these two cases, I could have put both
of these kids through college. And it’s just like, is it worth it?
But then when you sit back and look at it, I’m a competitor. I’m
not a quitter. I’m a fighter.”

One fight he is seriously considering is another one with the
state — on the civil end. When he first learned of his indictment
in 2009, Small vowed privately that he would sue the state once he
made it through trial. On Tuesday, he said he’s already had
discussions about the option with attorneys and intends to look
into it further in the coming weeks.

“That is a possibility because this has to stop,” Small said.
“All I ever wanted to do when getting involved in politics was
serve my city and serve the people I represent to the best of my
ability. And that didn’t include two major indictments in four
years. So, a message needs to be sent.”

The circumstances around the 2009 election had already been
trying for the 36-year-old councilman.

Small’s campaign had fallen apart after he narrowly lost the
endorsement of the city’s Democratic Committee. His City Council
running mates, campaign donors and expected political strategists
soon abandoned him. A month after the election, his replacement
running mate, 19-year-old Dafiq Rasheed, died in a tragic swimming
accident. And his wife, La’Quetta, was pregnant with their second
child, now-1-year-old Marty Jr.

The indictment only made coping with the challenges more
difficult, particularly with his growing family.

Questions swirled shortly after the state announced its charges
about whether Small would be suspended or fired from his job as
coordinator for the city school district’s after-school sports
program. In June, he was laid off for budget cuts before being
brought back at a reduced salary. Eventually an epic trial schedule
forced him to temporarily go on unpaid leave from work to regularly
appear in court.

Small estimates the unpaid leave alone cost him about $19,000 in
income, along with struggling to pay for his private attorney,
Stephen Funk. The councilman was the only one of the six defendants
to pay for their attorney.

And the charges against him threatened to end his career in the
public sector.

“The first eight ‘not guilty’ verdicts meant he wasn’t going to
prison,” Small’s attorney, Stephen Funk, said after the verdict.
“But we needed not guilty across the board. If not, he could have
no job in public service. That was gift number two, to him and to
the people of Atlantic City.”

“I just tried to make his life easier at home, taking care of
the kids, things around the house,” said La’Quetta Small, who also
works as vice principal at Atlantic City’s Uptown School Complex.
Small’s aunt, Gloria Small, also pitched in to help with the
family’s daily tasks, as well as with moral support.

“There’s just too many fatherless children out there,” Gloria
Small said. “I’m just glad God was on our side. The eyes of the
Lord are everywhere.”

And Small, lately speaking more spiritually than ever, said he
believes that God’s eyes will be looking upon him kindly in the
future. That’s why he’s taking such a different approach to
planning what comes next compared to where he was after the 2009
election. He’s leaving much of his future to be guided by his
faith.

“Any decision that I make from here forward is going to involve
God,” he said. “No matter how big your plans are, if the timing
isn’t right, it’s not going to happen. It’s coming from a higher
power.”

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